Chirag Paswan had asked his party colleagues to play spoilsport when Bihar went to polls in 2020. While maintaining fidelity to Narendra Modi, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) went on a kamikaze mission against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) — which proved to have cost him dearly when the results were out.
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A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and Chirag Paswan is back in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold, serving as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries. During seat-sharing talks between the NDA allies, the 43-year-old proved his mastery of negotiations, claiming 29 seats for his partymen — the most by any after the JD(U) and BJP. This was no nominal feat, as Paswan had to hold his ground during multiple rounds of talks and discussions until favourable terms were agreed upon by Nitish and other alliance leaders. It is noteworthy that Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM and Upendra Kushwaha's RLM were allotted only six seats each.
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Many claim that Chirag secretly harbours chief ministerial ambitions, and his party's six per cent vote share across Bihar indicates his growing influence outside his party's traditional Dalit vote base. His "Bihar First, Bihari First" campaign has found takers, particularly youth across social and caste lines, and the BJP finds him a resourceful ally in the years to come.
How Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) candidates perform in the election holds the key to many salient questions, including the NDA's fate and Chirag's future. Here is a constituency-wise breakdown of LJP as the Bihar mandate is coming out.
S. No.
Seat
Candidate
Win/Loss
Margin
1
Belsand
Amit Kumar
2
Govindganj
Raju Tiwari
3
Sugauli
Rajesh Kumar alias Bablu Gupta
4
Mahua
Sanjay Kumar Singh
5
Simri Bakhtiyarpur
Sanjay Kumar
6
Darouli
Vishnudeo Paswan
7
Garkha
Seemant Mrinal
8
Madora
Seema Singh
9
Sahebpur Kamal
Surendra Kumar
10
Bakhri
Sanjay Kumar
11
Parbatta
Babu Lal Shaurya
12
Nathnagar
Mithun Kumar
13
Paliganj
Sunil Kumar
14
Brahmpur
Hulas Pandey
15
Dehri
Rajiv Ranjan Singh
16
Obra
Prakash Chandra
17
Sherghati
Uday Kumar Singh
18
Bodhgaya
Shyamdev Paswan
19
Rajauli (SC)
Vimal Rajvanshi
20
Govindpur
Vinita Mehta
21
Bochaha (SC)
Baby Kumari
22
Bakhtiarpur
Arun Kumar
23
Fatuha
Rupa Kumari
24
Bahadurganj
Mohammad Kalimuddin
25
Chenari (SC)
Murari Gautam
26
Maner
Jitendra Yadav
27
Kasba
Nitesh Kumar Singh
28
Balrampur
Sangeeta Devi
29
Makhdumpur (SC)
Rani Kumari
(With inputs from Jovan Thomas)
